AbeBooks - Rare Book Room: Books. Collectible James Bond Books Home > Rare Book Room > Books. Collectible James Bond Books. Books. Collectible James Bond Books. The big screen blockbuster of Casino Royale sees 007 new boy Daniel Craig gambling at the French Riviera's baccarat tables, but you would need to truly break the bank to afford an original first edition of many of Ian Fleming's James Bond books. He wrote 13 James Bond novels, starting with Casino Royale and ending with Octopussy and the Living Daylights, and all first editions are highly desirable and quite elusive, much like 007 himself. Casino Royale Published in 1953, this Jonathan Cape British edition is the true first. Less than 5,000 copies of Fleming's first James Bond novel were printed, with less than half going for commercial sale, and most are now in the hands of collectors. At a glamorous French casino, expert baccarat player Bond is on a mission to neutralize a lethal, high-rolling Russian operative called Le Chiffre, with the help of his beautiful assistant Vesper Lynd. First Edition, First Impression. 8vo.

Original black boards, titles to spine and red heart to upper board in red. With the dustjacket. Housed in a black quarter morocco solander box by The Chelsea Bindery. Traces of a very small bookseller's label removed from the front pastedown, but otherwise an immaculate copy in very fresh dustjacket minutely tanned in the lower white portion. $34765 Live and Let Die The second James Bond novel, published in 1954. Beautiful, fortune-telling Solitaire is the prisoner of Mr. Big - master of fear, artist in crime, and Voodoo Baron of Death. James Bond has no time for superstition - he knows that Big is also a top SMERSH operative and threat. After tracking him through the jazz joints of Harlem to the Everglades and on the Caribbean, 007 has realized that Mr. Big is one of the most dangerous men that he has ever faced. First edition, first issue (without the two line credit on the front flap). 8vo. Publisher's black cloth, spine lettered and stamped in gilt, gilt vignette stamped on front cover.

Original dust jacket printed in magenta, with price to rear flap intact, price to front flap clipped, orange and black, edges of rear cover and flaps slightly browned, slight crease to upper edge, minute rubbing to head of spine and tips. An excellent example of the second James Bond title. $17250 From Russia With Love Fleming's fifth Bond book is widely considered the best novel in the series, and the best of the Bond films. In the book, Russia's lethal SMERSH organization has targeted 007 for elimination. SMERSH has the perfect bait in the irresistible Tatiana Romanova, who lures Bond to Istanbul promising the top-secret Spektor cipher machine. But when he walks willingly into the trap, a game of cross and double-cross ensues. NF/VG+; First Edition; First Printing. Binding is Hard Cover. A handsome, bright First Print copy of the First Edition in Very Near Fine condition in Very Good+ dust-jacket, little rubbing and chipping of dustjacket, showing original price of 13s 6d. A fine collectible. $7700 Dr. No The first Bond book to make it to the big screen, Dr.

No was published in 1958 and was the sixth book in the series. Bond travels to Jamaica to investigate the disappearance of Strangeways. The tropical island is luxurious, the seductive Honey Rider is beautiful and willing, but they are both part of the empire of Dr. No, whose specialty is torture and obsession is power. The doctor is a worthy adversary for 007, with a mind as hard and cold as his solid steel hands. Jonathan Cape, London, 1958, 1958. FIRST EDITION. Publisher's black cloth. Silver titles to spine. 'Dancing Lady' design on cloth. Near fine in like wrapper. An attractive copy. $2607 Goldfinger In Fleming's seventh Bond novel, published in 1959, readers are introduced to Auric Goldfinger: cruel, clever, frustratingly careful. The sort of man James Bond hates. So it's fortunate that Bond is the man charged to discover what this, the richest man in the country, intends to do with his ill-gotten gains - and what his connection is with SMERSH.

But once inside this deadly criminal's organization, 007 finds that Goldfinger's schemes are more grandiose - and lethel - than anyone could have imagined. First edition, a superb copy. Octavo, original black cloth with blind-stamped skull and gilt coin eyes, original dust jacket. In colorful dust jacket designed by Richard Chopping. Book fine; exceptionally clean, bright dust jacket just about fine. Rare in this condition. $2000 The Spy Who Loved Me The tenth Bond book, The Spy Who Loved Me was published in 1962 and was told from the point of view of a Canadian woman named Vivienne Michel. James Bond does not appear until the second half of the book, when he arrives at the cheap motel that she is running in the Adirondacks. Fleming was not happy with the novel, and requested that only the title - and not the plot - be incorporated into a film. Released in 1977, this original Bond film spun the first 007 novelisation, James Bond, The Spy Who Loved Me , by Christopher Wood. First edition. Original black cloth with silver dagger vignette to upper cover in pictorial Chopping dustwrapper.

Author’s presentation copy, inscribed to Evelyn Irons on the front end paper, "To Evelyn from Ian." A near fine copy in a near fine dustwrapper. Evelyn Irons, a well bred Scottish girl who famously refused to wear make up whilst working as a fashion correspondent, knew Fleming as a colleague at the Sunday Times. $18058 You Only Live Twice Recommended by Stephen at Biblion , London, UK You Only Live Twice was the twelfth Bond novel to be written by Ian Fleming and the last to be published in his lifetime. It was also the last to feature Ernst Stavro Blofeld and his criminal organisation SPECTRE. The film adaptation was done by Roald Dahl and it was the first Bond film not to stick faithfully to the text, and was meant to be the last one to star Sean Connery. London: Jonathan Cape, 1964. 1st ed., first printing, second state, with the wording 'First published March 1964' replacing the earlier 'First Published 1964' on the title-page verso.

Former owner's name to the head of the front free endpaper, otherwise a clean bright copy in a bright unclipped dustwrapper with just the faintest hint of wear to the spine extremities. $278 Octopussy and the Living Daylights Whether it is tracking down a wayward major who has taken a deadly secret with him to the Caribbean or identifying a top Russian agent secretly bidding for a Fabergï¿½ egg in a Sothebyï¿½s auction room, Bond always closes the case - with extreme prejudice. This collection of 007 stories was published posthumously in 1966. Fine in Fine dust jacket; A most unique copy of the First Edition in Fine condition in a Fine, bright dust-jacket with 16s label pasted over original printed price of 10s 6d. Signed and inscribed by James Bond actor Roger Moore on the front end paper "Roger Moore, ex. 007.

I could have written Sean Connery." $3960 James Bond books | James Bond Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia Fleming Ian Fleming at work After serving in the British Naval Intelligence Division during World War II, Fleming was inspired to write a novel about an international spy. Fleming bragged to his friends about how good he believed the book would be. Fleming chose a bland but masculine name for his main character and gave the character many of his own personal tastes including golf and gambling. He began writing his first Bond novel in 1952 in Jamaica over two months to take his mind off his upcoming wedding and pregnant fiancé. Casino Royale was published in 1953 to moderate reviews but great sales in the UK. Fleming, who's full time job was a Forgeign Manager for a UK newspaper, used his yearly 3-month holiday to write each Bond book resulting in 1954's Live and Let Die , 1955's Moonraker , 1956's Diamonds Are Forever , 1957's From Russia with Love , 1958's Dr.

No , 1959's Goldfinger , 1960's For Your Eyes Only -- a collection of short Bond stories -- 1961's Thunderball , 1962's The Spy Who Loved Me , 1963's On Her Magesty's Secret Service , and 1964's You Only Live Twice . Fleming was a heavy drinker and smoker and suffered heart disease. He suffered his first heart attack in 1961 and a fatal heart attack in August 1964. His final two books, 1965's The Man with the Golden Gun and 1966's collection of short stories Octopussy and The Living Daylights were published posthumously. Gildrose Publications Kingsley Amis With the success and fortune found by Casino Royale , Fleming purchased the small publication company Gildrose Publications, which had only published his novel. Gildrose, latered renamed Ian Fleming Publications in 1999 continues to license the Bond franchise and expand the literary catalogue.

Gildrose planned on having several authors use the pen name "Robert Markham" to continue to scribe more Bond books but the idea was scrapped after only one work, Colonel Sun , was written by English author and Bond fan Kingsley Amis in 1968. Amis also wrote a short story about an elderly Bond returning in a time of crisis, but was refused permission to publish it. Gildrose produced two novelizations to the EON films, James Bond, The Spy Who Loved Me and James Bond and Moonraker in 1977 and 1979, respectively written by Christopher Wood . John Gardner Gardner After a thirteen year hiatus of original content (and recently after the death of Anne Charteris, Fleming's wife) Gildrose contracted John Gardner to scribe several Bond novels and to bring Bond in the modern 1980s. In 1981 Licence Renewed was published to mediocre critical response and sales. Nevertheless Gardner wrote a total of 16 Bond novels, including two novelizations of feature films. In 1996 Gardner published his last Bond book, COLD .

Raymond Benson Benson After Gardner's departure Raymond Benson was contracted by Gildrose to continue the Bond story. Benson, an American, was accused by fans of Americanizing the series but was also hailed as returning to Fleming's roots more than Gardner had managed. Benson wrote six original Bond novels, starting with 1997's Zero Minus Ten . Benson's novels, like Gardner's, featured James Bond in a modern year. He also wrote three film novelizations and three Bond short stories. In 2002 Benson left the Bond series. He is, to date, the only continuation author to release any short stories. Sebastian Faulks 2000's Ian Fleming Publications asked British author Sebastian Faulks to pen a new Bond novel in the early 2000's. Faulks delivered a novel set in the 1960's in 2008 titled Devil May Care . Faulks chose to not continue and was replaced with American author Jeffery Deaver who penned Carte Blanche in 2011. In 2013 Ian Fleming Publications announced that William Boyd would pen the thirty-eighth Bond book in time for the 60th literary anniversary.

Solo was released in September 2013 in the UK and October 2013 in the US. In 2014 it was announced that Anthony Horowitz would write the thirty-ninth Bond novel. He would be using previously unreleased material by Fleming as an inspiration. This would take the form of several plot treatments for a James Bond television series that was never made and ended up turning most of the plots into the short stories that formed the collections For Your Eyes Only and Octopussy and The Living Daylights . The book titled Trigger Mortis was released in September 2015. 13 April 1953 – Casino Royale, the first James Bond novel, is published - MI6 Community MI6 Community Reporting For Duty It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons! edited April 2012 in Literary 007 Posts: 5,700 Happy birthday for all those that read the Fleming-novels. 13 April 1953 – Casino Royale, the first James Bond novel, is published Comments Ahhh, Happy Birthday Casino Royale!

Sandy Somewhere in Europe April 2012 edited April 2012 Posts: 3,966 "The scent of smoke and sweat of a casino are nauseating at three in the morning" in Casino Royale, Chapter 1 The Secret Agent Imortal first words! I can't resist to borrow one of Daniel Craig's comment in a recent interview to make a joke: James Bond, stylishly blowing stuff up since 1953 ;) Mod edit: slight language correction. And thus history was written. 0BradyM0Bondfanatic7 It was this or the priesthood. April 2012 edited April 2012 Posts: 22,389 Happy Anniversary to the Bond novel that is thus far and probably will always remain my favorite Fleming novel. It is an espionage classic, with Bond how he should be portrayed: a cold, calculating, and ruthless man who can hurt but also be hurt himself, physically and emotionally. A perfect novel to show that you don't have to be action filled to be brilliant and profound. It makes you yourself think, like Bond does near the end, the difference between good and evil, if one even exists.

The fiction becomes reality once again, and leaves a considerable mark on this reader. I salute you Ian, for creating a man all us boys wish they were. ^:)^ April 2012 Posts: 401 It's not just the story, it's the unique way Fleming has of turning a phrase. Plus his descriptions of the scenes are so vivid you actually believe you're there. Happy 60th birthday to Casino Royale and James Bond! April 2012 Posts: 13,011 What a great book! With some untouched scenes that I'd still love to see on film. Thanks again, Mr. Fleming. April 2013 Posts: 121 I shall celebrate the evening by relaxingly watching Casino Royale with my beautiful girlfriend. I think Fleming would approve. 60 years ago today, Fleming published his dream of writing the spy novel that would end all spy novels. He did. And his legacy has survived. Happy Anniversary Ian. April 2013 Posts: 802 Happy anniversary Casino Royale and thanks a million Mr.Fleming for giving us all those thrills and spills over the years.

I was born in 1953 - the year of Bond - and first read the novel in 1963, aged 10, and have never looked back since. Shame IFP didn't have the marketing savvy to publish Boyd's new Bond book on this anniversary day. Now that would have been a PR coup! April 2013 Posts: 1,949 Happy anniversary James Bond and Ian Fleming. Who would have thought that his work would live on, as large and as popular as it was back then? I give Ian Fleming my greatest thank you for giving us so much joy and entartaining moments with the greatest characther of all time! For another 60 years! edited April 2013 Posts: 1,565 Casino Royale - an exciting, haunting, introspective, Cold war espionage thriller. I recently sat down to re-read CR, I had no idea its 60th anniversary was coming, so now would seem a perfect time to discuss some of the things I found re-reading the book. The first thing that must be said is that the book isn’t nearly as ‘explosive’ as the Bond we are used to seeing today.

Heck, the book isn’t nearly as explosive as Fleming’s latter 007 novels. However, it would be a fruitless endeavour I think to condemn the book for this. Fleming had no idea he was writing the genesis tale for one of fiction’s greatest characters, I think it is therefore important to judge the book on its own merits and avoid the baggage which is now associated with it. I really loved the book. The first half of the story is really very exciting; I know it’s a cliché but it is a ‘page-turner’, the story keeps you hooked. The time Fleming spends in those first few pages setting up Bond’s world is simply thriller-writing at its best. Immediately we meet a man in a glamorous casino surveying the room looking for the exits and calculating the odds of Le Chiffre’s potential robbery of the casino. When he goes to his hotel room and receives his telegram, Fleming hints at the world his character lives in and introduces all the elements slowly. Bond is a man living in the shadows and there seems to be a lot of cloak-and-dagger antic from his superiors to keep it that way.

The book is a real testament to its time as the Cold War paranoia is ratcheted up constantly. Bond checks his hotel for any sort of activity, he prides himself on his cover and is angry when he gets exposed, everyone keeps talking in code, all the characters back in London are kept as mysterious as possible and is boss is simply known as M and he works with men referred to only as ‘Head of S’. This is truly great Cold War espionage writing, as there is a great sense of distrust even between the author and his audience. This distrust also perminates with the other characters throughout the story; Mathis and Bond are good friends but acknowledge the rivalry that exists between them, also when Bond sits with Leiter and they talk shop; Bond is more than aware than his American counterpart is keeping secrets from him. Casino Royale seems to be a place where even your friends are your enemies; it’s with some irony then that the only other mi6 agent who Bond trusts completely and falls in love with betrays him. The actual card game itself is possibly the most exciting part of the book by far. I’ve never played baccarat, but the game is very easy to follow and the way the story is written is very entertaining.

Le Chiffre’s French brothel backstory isn’t so thrilling for today’s standards, but his decision to try and recoup his losses with a high stakes casino game is one of the most audacious and fantastic storylines out there. The actual gambling scene is far from a simple card-game of course, it is a battle of ideologies. Communism vs Capitalism, with Le Chiffre personifying all the things Bond hates about the enemy. It’s very much a ‘cold war’ as these two use the green blaize as a battlefield without even saying a word to each other. Fleming though grabs his audience and quickly whisks them away with the torture sequence, this must have been great reading in 1953 as audiences didn’t know Bond as we do now and many would likely have not expected him to make it out intact. The last act for the book is therefore very interesting as tonally the it does seem to shift. Fleming almost subverts the book’s context by essentially asking ‘what’s it all about’?

Before this point of the novel Bond isn’t all that interesting, the world he inhabits is very exciting but as a character he doesn’t really do much and instead just seems to react to things happening around him. However, after the torture this changes and Bond starts to question what it is he is doing and who it is he is helping. Who are the heroes and who are the villains? Mathis describes it perfectly when he tells Bond to stop being soo introspective as he fears he may become ‘too human’ as at the moment he is far too good a ‘machine’. Mathis really nails it here, at this point of the story Bond has been harsh and cold, a man who can read people perfectly and knows the odds of any situations. When at dinner with Vesper he shuts down when the talk gets too personal, but soon after the horrific events that happen to him he begins to become what Mathis fears, ‘human’. A lot has been written by fans on ‘the nature of evil’ passage, so I’ll be quick; I found the discussion interesting, especially when Bond put himself in Le Chiffre’s shoes, it makes the ideological baccarat battle seem almost superfluous in light of Bond’s realisation.

Of course, any doubts Bond had about his profession and who the bad-guys are are dusted aside once Vesper betrays him and he becomes the tempered-steel man we know today. I liked the Vesper character a lot, she’s an enigma to 007 and that entices him. He desires her (almost disgustingly so) but he can’t read her and for a man quite as arrogant about his talents as Bond it annoys him. He is after all a machine and the fact he can’t crack Vesper irritates him and only makes him desire her more, of course he’s going to fall in love with her and of course their relationship is thereon doomed. This part of the novel does sag slightly, with the last 50 pages or so losing some of the pace the previous 150 established. I found Vesper’s characterisation to actually be rather good, many often cite that Vesper seems to go a little awry towards the end of the novel but throughout the story she seems to be sitting on top of a lot of intensity and she’s just waiting to boil over. She’s a much more tragic and less assured person in the book.

The betrayal has to come of course as Bond trusts her, unlike any other character in the book, so it’s essential that that trust is broken, therefore leaving him empowered to go after the threat behind the threat. Her betrayal though is also very important to the Cold War paranoia perminating throughout the story – Vesper is a normal girl who is manipulated by the enemy and betrays her country, something that was a very real threat at the time considering the Cambridge spies issues. The threat at home can be just as bad as the threat away. So CR is an exciting, fast-paced Cold War thriller. It sets up the world of Bond in a fun and glamorous way but with an interesting introspective edge. April 2013 Posts: 546 Happy 60th Anniversary to Ian Fleming/CR/James Bond!! CR was the first book I devoured. It was a masterpiece of a novel. CR ties #1 with my favourite Ian Fleming novel FRWL. Thank you Ian Fleming for what you have started by giving us a hero we all can look up to in James Bond. Ian Fleming is the man!!!!

Sixty years of James Bond's Casino Royale - in pictures | Books | The Guardian Sixty years of James Bond's Casino Royale - in pictures Sixty years of James Bond's Casino Royale - in pictures Share on Messenger Close It's 60 years since Ian Fleming published his first James Bond novel, Casino Royale. His greatest fan, Mike VanBlaricum, examines how six decades of cover artists have fulfilled their mission to identify 007 on book shelves around the world. Here he introduces images from the world's finest private collection of Bondiana, now on display in Illinois Mike VanBlaricum Friday 12 April 2013 02.00 EDT First published on Friday 12 April 2013 02.00 EDT April 13, 1953: First edition, first impression, first issue, Jonathan Cape, UK This was the first of Ian Fleming’s 14 James Bond books (12 novels, two collections of short stories) published by Jonathan Cape. The art for this first edition dustjacket was devised by Fleming with advice from Kemsley Newspaper Group’s in-house artist, Kenneth Lewis.

It is based on the winning hand that Bond draws against Le Chiffre during their intense game of baccarat. As Fleming explains in chapter 13, 'It was a nine, a wonderful nine of hearts, the card known in gipsy magic as "a whisper of love, a whisper of hate", the card that meant almost certain victory for Bond'Photograph: Jonathan Cape 14 new cover designs for James Bond books | Creative Bloq 14 new cover designs for James Bond books 14 new cover designs for James Bond books Ian Fleming's enduring spy thrillers are reissued in advance of the first Bond movie's 50th anniversary, and receive a stylish makeover with these Saul Bass-inspired cover designs. Shares Here's further proof that timeless heritage is one of the foremost graphic design trends in 2012, in the shape of these new James Bond reissues from Vintage Classics released today. The paperback covers are designed by publisher Random House 's in-house team to emphasise the cool sophistication of Ian Fleming's ubiquitous agent 007 and to evoke the heritage and era without appearing dated.

For many, Bond’s contemporary image is closely aligned with the movies, yet the novels vividly evoke the setting and atmosphere of the period - and the covers reflect this distancing from the film franchise. Six designers worked over the 14 titles, which meant that there had to be a clear brief and consistent typography for the designs to cohere. The 14 reissued covers were created by six separate designers Creative director Suzanne Dean briefed the designers to be inspired by Saul Bass, perhaps best known for movie art such as posters and title sequences including Psycho, The Man with the Golden Gun, and North by Northwest. "Bass once described his main goal for his title sequences as being to 'try to reach for a simple, visual phrase that tells you what the picture is all about and evokes the essence of the story'," says Dean. "Our colour palette was referenced from Bass’s posters, and we introduced an authentic retro feel by cutting out our designs." On typography's secret service The typography was painstakingly deliberated over too. "Folio was one of the first popular sans-serif fonts and was used in a lot of newspaper and display graphics of the period," continues Dean.

"As we were keen to reference the period and content when the books were written, rather than the movies of the '60s and '70s, the font was perfect for the graphic film posters of the '50s and '60s. "Folio is a realist sans-serif font designed by Konrad Bauer and Walter Baum in 1957, and is more closely related to Akzidenz Grotesk (1896) than similar fonts like Helvetica. It has a strong circular 'O' in its bold version, which formed an important feature within our designs, and had the added attraction of having a very '50s-feeling bold condensed version. Mixing the two gives an immediate retro feel, whilst having fresh take on layout also keeps the covers contemporary." Here are the new covers, with the designer of each giving an insight into the creation process involved. 01. Casino Royale Casino Royale was the first Bond novel, published in 1953 "Casino Royale was Ian Fleming’s first James Bond novel," says designer Suzanne Dean, "and he had sketched out a cover design describing it as ‘exquisite symmetry and absolute chastity’.

"It was important to me to nod towards this original design, but to simplify it and introduce an edgier element. The question I had was how far could I pare down the nine of Hearts playing card, while still making it obviously recognisable." 02. Moonraker Moonraker was first published a full 14 years before the first moon landing "The Moonraker of the title refers to the name of a missile in the book," says cover designer Stephen Parker, "and so I worked on a design which included a simplified V-2 missile shape within the letterforms. "Though the moon is absent from the book, written 14 years before the first moon landing, the circular 'Os' in the design do give a faint hint of the later more moon-based movie." 03. Diamonds Are Forever You're singing Shirley Bassey in your head now, admit it! "The story follows Bond around the world on a mission to track down a diamond-smuggling ring," says Julia Connolly. "By creating sharp angles with the type, the diamond shape can be seen in the negative space, with crosshairs adding a hint of the danger we associate with James Bond." 04.

From Russia With Love Orient Express based espionage thriller is a true classic "The story centres on a plot by SMERSH to assassinate Bond," says Dean. "This is represented by trapping the bullet within the U, just as Bond traps the bullet with his metal cigarette case. The red and black colour theme emphasizes the communist operations and espionage throughout the novel." 05. Dr No The debut film was actually the sixth novel to be published "Dr No is a reclusive villain living on Crab Key, a mysterious private Caribbean island," says the cover's artist Matt Broughton. "He lives like this because he believes the concept of securing power begins with absolute secrecy. "The graphic is constructed to suggest this self-enforced isolation, with the elongated shadow of 'No' referring to the looming menace within." 06. For Your Eyes Only The Saul Bass inspiration is most vividly evoked in this cover "A key moment in the book, and memorable scene from the film, is when one of Bond's targets is unexpectedly killed by a woman with a crossbow," explains Connolly. "So the arrow is used to dramatically cut through the type.

This interaction of title and image, and the use of block colours, was inspired by Saul Bass's classic film posters." 07. The Spy Who Loved Me Scortched bullet holes are a simple but dramatic design motif "A challenge to work on, The Spy Who Loved Me had many covers along the way," says the book cover's designer James Jones. "Even though the story is told from a female perspective early visuals were too feminine in their approach, and a departure from the rest of the series. "Having experimented with roses and fire, the idea of scorching the bullet-holed 'Os' seemed to hint at the burnt love represented within the novel." 08. On Her Majesty's Secret Service Split 'Secret' and 'Service' plays a trick with the eyes "The graphic for On Her Majesty's Secret Service conceals a Union Jack - a reference to Bond's employers," says Broughton. "By splitting the words 'secret' and 'service' we’re encouraged to read an all-too-familiar title without noticing the typographical conflict - the idea that there is more if you look beneath the surface." 09.

Octopussy and The Living Daylights The two short stories are cleverly delineated using typographical differences "With the novel being compiled of short stories, both titles needed to be represented on one cover," says Jones. "As the octopus is such a key element, it made sense to use the tentacles to help draw the reader in. "This allowed for a more subtle sniper element for The Living Daylights, and having two different colours for the titles helped differentiate them further." 10. The Man with the Golden Gun "The Man with the Golden Gun is designed to form the suggestion of a gun shape, and the extending lines speak of sightlines and trajectories," says Parker. The end view of the golden bullet, which has Bond’s name on it, adds a graphic counterbalance to the design and may even be misinterpreted as Scaramanaga’s third nipple." 11. You Only Live Twice "When reading You Only Live Twice, the image that stuck in my mind was the mysterious ‘Garden of Death’ where people had been flocking to kill themselves," says designer Kris Potter. "The exotic plants with their deadly dripping poisons lent themselves to both the colour and playful treatment of the type." 12.

Thunderball "Thunderball is the operation to recover two atomic bombs threatening to destroy two major cities," says Potter. "This dual threat is suggested by the positive and negative bomb shapes within the design. The action of the book mainly takes place underwater and the colour, speargun and radar lines are suggestive of this." 13. Goldfinger "Bond’s antagonist in the novel is Auric Goldfinger, a man with an unhealthy obsession with gold, hence the title colouring," says Broughton. "The bullet hole/broken glass motif is a nod to the way Goldfinger’s factotum, Oddjob, receives his comeuppance – an ending that is reserved for Goldfinger himself in the film version." 14. Live and Let Die "Having decided upon a movie poster style, this allowed for the typography of Live and Let Die to have a playful element," says Jones. "The title rising from the grave symbolises the voodoo themes of the novel along with the supernatural colour palette. Then to ‘cap’ it off, Baron Samedi can be seen appearing within the shadows." The print editions of the Vintage 007 series are on sale now. Like this? Read these!

Casino Royale: 60 years old - Telegraph James Bond Casino Royale: 60 years old Ian Fleming's James Bond novel Casino Royale was first published on April 13 1953 and there is an intriguing tale behind the original screenplay of the 007 film adaptation. Daniel Craig starred in the film adaptation of Ian Fleming's 1963 novel Casino Royale. By Jeremy Duns 8:00AM BST 13 Apr 2013 Sixty years ago, the first 5000 copies of a novel by a new author were printed. The novel was Casino Royale by Ian Fleming, published April 13, 1953. When he took the part of Dr No in the first James Bond film, Joseph Wiseman had no inkling that the franchise would become such a success. As he admitted in 1992, he thought he’d signed up for "another Grade-B Charlie Chan mystery". How wrong.

Last November, 50 years after the premiere of Dr No, the 23rd Bond film was released, directed by Oscar-winner Sam Mendes, co-written by Oscar-nominated John Logan and starring Daniel Craig as the bare-knuckled Bond he debuted in 2005’s Casino Royale. The Bond films have come a long way since 1962. The likes of Mendes, Logan, Paul Haggis and Marc Forster signing up to be involved is worlds away from even a decade ago, when the series seemed to be heading into self-parody. Much of the creative renaissance of the past decade stems from the decision to return to the spirit of Fleming’s novels . Craig’s Casino Royale was an adaptation of Fleming’s first novel. The book merged the traditions of vintage British thrillers with the more realistic and brutal style of hardboiled American writers such as Dashiell Hammett. But Craig’s debut (below) was not the first attempt to film the novel, but the third.

The first was a one-hour play performed live on American television in October 1954: Barry Nelson starred as crew-cut American agent "Jimmy Bond" out to defeat villain Le Chiffre, played by Peter Lorre, at baccarat to ensure he will be executed by Soviet agency Smersh for squandering their funds. Due to the format, this was a much-simplified version of Fleming’s novel, with little of its extravagance or excitement. Related Articles The accidental Bond girl 11 Apr 2013 The book features a wince-inducing scene in which Le Chiffre, desperate to discover where Bond has hidden the cheque for 40 million francs that he needs to save his life, ties Bond naked to a cane chair with its seat cut out and proceeds to torture him by repeatedly whacking his testicles with a carpet-beater. This could clearly not be shown on television, so instead Bond was placed in a bath, his shoes removed, and viewers watched him howl with pain as, off-screen, Le Chiffre’s men attacked his toenails with pliers. The second attempt to film Casino Royale was altogether different.

Also in 1954, Gregory Ratoff bought a six-month film option on the novel, and the following year bought the rights outright. An extravagant bear of a man who had fled Russia at the time of the Bolshevik Revolution, Ratoff was a well-known actor, producer and director – he had directed Ingrid Bergman's first Hollywood film, Intermezzo, in 1939. He was also a close friend of Charles K. Feldman, the playboy producer and super-agent. In January 1956, the New York Times announced that Ratoff had set up a production company with actor-turned-agent Michael Garrison, and planned to film Casino Royale that summer in England, Estoril and San Remo, with Twentieth Century-Fox slated to release it. The article mentioned that Fleming himself had written an adaptation of the novel, but that Ratoff was instead negotiating with a "noted scenarist" to write a new script. Ratoff died in December 1960, and his widow sold the film rights to Casino Royale to Charles Feldman. The long-dormant project soon became a potential goldmine.

In March 1961, Life magazine listed From Russia, With Love as one of John F Kennedy’s 10 favourite books, and the Bond novels rapidly became best-sellers in the United States. Three months later, one of Feldman’s former employees at Famous Artists, Albert "Cubby" Broccoli, formed EON Productions with Canadian producer Harry Saltzman after buying the rights to the rest of Fleming’s novels. In response to the growing popularity of Bond, Feldman turned to Ben Hecht (below) to write a script for Casino Royale. Known as "the Shakespeare of Hollywood", Hecht was a novelist, poet and playwright who had written or co-written several classic scripts, including The Front Page, based on a play he had co-written; Underworld, for which he won the first best screenplay Oscar in 1927; the original Scarface; and Hitchcock’s Spellbound and Notorious. Hecht also worked uncredited on dozens of other screenplays, including Gone With The Wind, Foreign Correspondent and a few other Hitchcock films. The fact that Ben Hecht contributed to the script of Casino Royale has been known for decades, and is mentioned in passing in many books.

But perhaps because the film Feldman eventually released in 1967 was a near-incoherent spoof, nobody has followed up to find out precisely what his contribution entailed. My interest was piqued when I came across an article in a May 1966 issue of Time, which mentioned that the screenplay of Casino Royale had started many years earlier "as a literal adaptation of the novel", and that Hecht had had "three bashes at it". I decided to go looking for it. To my amazement, I found that Hecht not only contributed to Casino Royale, but produced several complete drafts, and that much of the material survived. It was stored in folders with the rest of his papers in the Newberry Library in Chicago, where it had been sitting since 1979. And, outside of the people involved in trying to make the film, it seemed nobody had read it. Here was a lost chapter, not just in the world of the Bond films, but in cinema history: before the spoof, Ben Hecht adapted Ian Fleming’s first novel as a straight Bond adventure. The folders contain material from five screenplays, four of which are by Hecht.

An early near-complete script from 1957 is a faithful adaptation of the novel in many ways but for one crucial element: James Bond isn’t in it. Instead of the suave but ruthless British agent, the hero is Lucky Fortunato, a rich, wisecracking American gangster who is an expert poker player. Screenwriter Lorenzo Semple Jr, who travelled around Europe with Gregory Ratoff, says he didn’t write it, but it seems likely Feldman sent this script to Hecht as a starting point to see what he could do with it. Of the remaining material, two of the scripts are missing title pages and so are undated and without a credit, while the other two are from 1964 and are clearly credited to Hecht. There are also snippets of notes, letters, and three pages of "notes for an outline" dated December 17 1963, which feature scenes in Baghdad, Algiers and Naples and culminate in a raid on a German castle. These pages may have been Hecht’s first stab at coming to grips with the novel. Of all the Bond books, Casino Royale was one of the more problematic to adapt for film.

On the one hand, it’s one of Fleming's strongest novels (Raymond Chandler and Kingsley Amis both felt it his best): intense, almost feverishly so, and richer in characterisation and atmosphere than many of the others. But the novel is also short — practically a novella — with little physical action in it other than the infamous torture scene. Bond also falls in love with his fellow agent on the mission, Vesper Lynd, and even considers proposing marriage to her before he discovers she has been coerced into working for Smersh and has betrayed him. She kills herself, and the novel ends with Bond reporting to London savagely that "the bitch is dead". Although Hecht was tackling the novel 10 years after it had been published, these are all elements it seems hard to imagine in a film adaptation. But these drafts are a master-class in thriller-writing, from the man who arguably perfected the form with Notorious. Hecht made vice central to the plot, with Le Chiffre actively controlling a network of brothels and beautiful women who he is using to blackmail powerful people around the world.

Just as the theme of Fleming’s Goldfinger is avarice and power, the theme of Hecht’s Casino Royale is sex and sin. It’s an idea that seems obvious in hindsight, and Hecht used it both to raise the stakes of Fleming’s plot and to deepen the story’s emotional resonance. This is visible in the surviving pages of two separate undated drafts. Judging from the plotlines and character names, they were written after the December 1963 notes, but before the three drafts from 1964. Hecht wrote to Feldman on January 13 1964 to say he had 110 pages of "our blissful Casino Royale" ready to be typed and sent to him, but that if he could wait three days he would be able to send him 130 pages of what he refers to as a first draft, which will bring it up to its conclusion. As there is no other material dating from January 1964 in his papers, it seems likely that these are excerpts from that time. Hecht also adds that he has "never had more fun writing a movie".

Both draft fragments feature a British secret agent called James Bond who gambles against a Colonel Chiffre, aided by an American agent called Felix Leiter and a French agent called Rene Mathis. In both, Bond falls in love with Vesper Lynd, who betrays him and kills herself. Both drafts stick closely to the atmosphere of the novel, while adding several new plot elements and characters. These include Mila, one of Chiffre’s former brothel madams and a former lover of Bond’s. Surnamed alternatively Vigne and Brant, she is a classic femme fatale, trying to seduce Bond in her night gown. Bond turns her down — just. In one of the undated drafts, Chiffre escapes at the last moment and Bond returns to London following Vesper’s suicide, where M tells him to take a holiday in Jamaica. Bond says he would rather stick around in case M has any errands for him. This suggests Feldman may have been considering slotting the film into Broccoli and Saltzman’s series, as he didn’t have the rights to any other Bond novels. The James Bond in these pages is a deft blend of Fleming’s character and the film version as portrayed by Sean Connery.

The second Bond film, From Russia With Love, premiered in England in late 1963, but the series had not yet solidified: perhaps as a result, there are no vodka martinis or "Bond. James Bond" lines. The 40 pages of the draft dated February 20 1964 elaborated on many of the scenes and ideas in these pages, but add an unusual gimmick. Bond is precisely the same character as he was in the other drafts: suave, laconic, ruthless and predatory. But he is not James Bond. Instead, he is an unnamed American agent called in by M who is given the name James Bond. M says that "since Bond’s death" MI6 has put several agents into operation using his name: "It not only perpetuates his memory, but confuses the opposition." After this scene this agent is indistinguishable from Bond, and doesn’t seem American at all. It may be that Feldman was also considering how to make the film with an actor other than Sean Connery. There are very few logical inconsistencies in Hecht's material – this gimmick sticks out like a sore thumb.

The draft opens with a pre-titles sequence – itself a nod to the Connery films – in which Felix Leiter arrests senior United Nations diplomats and the beautiful prostitutes who have ensnared them in honey traps. Then we cut to M informing his new Bond about the villain he is sending him after. Instead of being a rather small-time agent on the run from Smersh, as he is in the novel, Chiffre is now the head of a massive operation being run by Spectre against the free world’s leaders and scientists, using brothels and honey traps to film them and then extort them for secrets. Bond is assigned to work with fellow MI6 agent Vesper Lynd and sent to Hamburg to check out one of Chiffre’s brothels. Hecht introduces more new characters in this draft, including Lili Wing, a beautiful but drug-addicted Eurasian madam who once had a fling with Bond, and her girlfriend, Georgie, who carries a black kitten on her shoulder.

Many of the scenes are darkly comic, and some of the sexual antics are politically incorrect even for the Sixties, with references to politicians being attracted to children and a car chase through Hamburg’s red light district ending with Bond drenched in mud disguised as a lesbian wrestler. The most significant new character is Gita, Chiffre’s beautiful wife. She and much of this draft returned in the final two surviving sections of script, which are dated April 8 and April 14, 1964. The first has 84 pages, and covers most of the plot. The second is 49 pages long and is an addition to it, indicating which pages are to remain untouched from the draft of a week earlier. Taken together, they form a near-complete story. Taken with the rest of the documents, with gaps in one draft often being filled in by others, these 260 or so pages give a strong sense of what a completed final Hecht screenplay would have been like. The April 8 pages revert to Bond being the real thing. He flirts with Moneypenny, M gives him his mission, and he’s off: it reads just like an early Connery Bond film.

The April 14 draft switches back to the counterfeit Bond idea, but adds to and improves the earlier draft in other ways. The first third of the story follows Bond and Vesper as they track down the incriminating rolls of film that Chiffre has collected for Spectre, which are being transported from a warehouse in Hamburg by a protected van. The Hamburg car chase culminates in Lili Wing being captured by Chiffre’s men and fed into the crusher of a rubbish truck, while Bond uses Gita Chiffre as a shield. She is shot by mistake by Chiffre’s henchmen. Bond commandeers the van and impersonates one of the eye-patched henchmen in the darkness. During a car chase in the Swiss Alps, the van goes over the cliff and explodes with the films in it, Bond escaping at the last moment. As a result of Bond ruining the extortion scheme, Chiffre loses half of his budget allocated to him by Spectre, and sets about trying to win it back. Then we relocate to northern France and the area around the fictional Royale. Vesper gives Bond instructions from M to accompany her to the casino there to finish Chiffre off for good. This is ingenious in several ways.

In the book, Le Chiffre and Bond duel without ever having met each other. Now, Bond is directly responsible for his precarious situation and the reason he sets up the baccarat game, and we have a rematch. In addition, Madam Chiffre, with half her face destroyed by bullet wounds and speaking metallically through a tube inserted in her ripped out larynx, is a classic Bond villain, a sinister presence lurking in the shadows waiting to exact revenge on 007. In undated handwritten notes, Hecht wrote that a man torturing a naked Bond in this way on screen would seem to audiences like he was not only indulging in "a far-fetched and unmotivated type of cruelty", but also a "yelping pansy". The torture scene is faithful in spirit to the novel, but perhaps even more brutal, and contains many of the best lines of dialogue. Chiffre quietly continues to ask a naked Bond the location of the missing cheque while encouraging his wife to thrash him with the carpet beater.

At one point he tells her to stop, adding: "M’sieur Bond may want to change his mind while he is still a m’sieur." Bond refuses, of course, and when asked about the check later, gives the memorable reply "Up your gizzard, you fat pimp." Chiffre also briefly waterboards Bond with whisky in an attempt to get him to talk. Just as it seems that Bond is destined to die he is rescued by Specter’s assassins, who let him go but scar his hand so they can identify him in any future operations, and then shoot Chiffre who has hidden in a cupboard. The "brothel Napoleon", as Bond calls him, dies with silk dresses and negligees draping over his corpse. Bond recovers in hospital, and proposes to Vesper. She accepts, but shortly after confesses she has been working for Spectre all along, then takes her life with cyanide. But just as it seems that the film will end with a grief-stricken and impotent Bond, a doctor prescribes him with testosterone, and a minor character, Georgie, returns and tries to seduce him.

Bond is surprised and delighted to find that his body responds to her advances, and order is restored as he plants two solid kisses on her mouth and we fade out. All the pages in Hecht’s papers are gripping, but the material from April 1964 is phenomenal, and it’s easy to imagine it as the basis for a classic Bond adventure. Hecht’s treatment of the romance element is powerful and convincing, even with the throwaway ending, but there is also a distinctly adult feel to the story. It has all the excitement and glamour you would expect from a Bond film but is more suspenseful, and the violence is brutal rather than cartoonish. On Thursday April 16 1964, Hecht sent a letter to Feldman attaching an article from Time about Bond and saying he would write up a critique of their "current script" on Monday. He added some comments on Bond, including that he felt the character was cinema’s first "gentleman superman" in a long time, as opposed to Hammett and Chandler’s "roughneck supermen". But Monday never came: Hecht died of a heart attack at his home on Saturday April 18 while reading.

At some point, Feldman went to Broccoli and Saltzman and tried to broker a deal to film Casino Royale in partnership with them, but he wanted too large a share and the talks broke down. It seems he also claimed that Goldfinger had plagiarized Casino Royale and threatened to sue – perhaps he felt that the scene in which gangster Mr Solo is crushed at a scrap yard was too reminiscent of Lili Wing’s death. Furious that he had not come to an agreement with Broccoli and Saltzman, Feldman approached Connery to see if he would be interested in jumping ship. Connery said he would for a million dollars, but this was too much for Feldman’s blood and he turned him down. He decided to take a new tack, signing an unknown Northern Irish actor, Terence Cooper, who he kept on salary for two years, and recruited Orson Welles, David Niven, Peter Sellers, Ursula Andress, Woody Allen and several others.

A set report in Time in May 1966 revealed that after Hecht’s "three bashes" at the script, it had been completely rewritten by Billy Wilder, after which Joseph Heller, Terry Southern, Wolf Mankowitz and John Law had all taken their turn at it. Much of the film was improvised on the spot, and Woody Allen also worked on it. Very little of Hecht’s work made it to the screen apart from the idea of calling other agents James Bond to confuse the opposition, which grew into the main theme. Eventually released in 1967, it was a bloated and incoherent comedy that wasted the prodigious talent it had assembled, and the title Casino Royale was indelibly linked with a cinematic disaster rather than Fleming’s novel (below, some of the Bond novels he wrote). Finally, in 2004 EON gained the rights to the novel, and set about filming it with Daniel Craig. The big question raised by Hecht’s material is what would have happened if Feldman had managed to come to an agreement with EON, and Casino Royale had been made with Sean Connery in 1965 or 1966.

Perhaps it would have divided the audience, as Goldfinger took Bond into superspy territory, and even a disfigured villainess might not have been enough for viewers so recently awestruck by the Aston Martin DB5’s ejector seat and Odd Job’s hat, especially if coupled with James Bond watching the woman he loves take her own life. Then again, perhaps it would have deepened Bond as a character and taken the series in a different direction. Casino Royale might even have been regarded as not just a classic Bond film, but as a classic thriller. We’ll never know, but Hecht’s surviving material offers a glimpse into a cinematic genius at work, and an alternate James Bond adventure as rich and thrilling as anything yet brought to the screen. Jeremy Duns is the author of spy novels. You can order his novels at TelegraphBookshop 007 Timeline | James Bond Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia May 27: Christopher Lee is born.

October 14: Roger Moore was born in Stockwell, London, England 1930's August 25: Sean Connery was born in Fountainbridge, Edinburgh, Scotland 1939 May: Ian Fleming was recruited by Rear Admiral John Godfrey, Director of Naval Intelligence of the Royal Navy, to become his personal assistant. September 5: George Lazenby was born in Goulburn, New South Wales, Australia 1940's 1940 September 12: Operation Ruthless, a plan aimed at obtaining details of the Enigma codes used by Nazi Germany's navy, was instigated by a memo written by Fleming to Godfrey 1942 January 21: Michael G.Wilson was born in New York City, New York Fleming formed a unit of commandos, known as No.

30 Commando or 30 Assault Unit (30AU), composed of specialist intelligence troops 1944 or 1946 March 21: Timothy Dalton was born in Colwyn Bay, Wales, United Kingdom 1950s 1952 February 17: To distract himself from his forthcoming nuptials, Fleming starts writing Casino Royale at his Goldeneye estate in Jamaica. March 18: Fleming finishes work on the script and shows it to an ex-girlfriend, Clare Blanchard, who advises him not to publish it at all, but that if he does so, it should be under another name. March 24: Ian Fleming marries Ann Charteris in Jamaica. 1953 April 13: Fleming publishes his first novel, Casino Royale , establishing the character of James Bond . It was a success and three print runs were needed to cope with the demand. May 16: Pierce Brosnan is born in Drogheda, County Louth, Republic of Ireland 1954 April 5: The second Bond novel, Live and Let Die , is released.

October 21: An hour-long television adaptation of Casino Royale is aired as an episode of CBS's dramatic anthology series Climax Mystery Theater. 1955 April 7: Fleming's third novel, Moonraker , is published. 1956 Moonraker is retitled Too Hot to Handle for its release in the U.S. March 26: Fleming's fourth novel, Diamonds Are Forever is published. 1957 April 8: The fifth Bond novel, From Russia with Love , is published. Fleming toys with the idea of killing off the James Bond character, unsure of whether he should write another Bond novel or not. 1958 March 31: Fleming's sixth novel, Dr. No , is published. The novel was originally a screenplay written in 1956 for what would have been a television show entitled Commander Jamaica. It marks the first appearance of both Major Boothroyd and Bond's signature weapon, the Walther PPK . Summer: Fleming and his friend, Ivar Bryce, begin talking about the possibility of a James Bond film.

Autumn: Bryce introduces Fleming to a young Irish writer and director, Kevin McClory , and the three of them, together with Fleming and Bryce's friend Ernest Cuneo, form the partnership Xanadu Productions. 1959 March 23: Goldfinger , the seventh novel in Ian Fleming's James Bond series is published. May: Fleming, Bryce, Cuneo and McClory come up with a story outline based on an aeroplane full of celebrities and a female lead called Fatima Blush. Over the next few months there are ten outlines, treatments and scripts. 1960s 1960 American copies of Moonraker are reverted to the original title. January-March: Fleming writes the novel Thunderball at Goldeneye, based on the screenplay written by himself, Whittingham and McClory. April 11: A collection of short stories by Ian Fleming are published under the title For Your Eyes Only . June 18: Barbara Broccoli was born in Los Angeles, CA 1961 March 17: In an article in Life Magazine , US President John F. Kennedy lists From Russia, with Love as one of his ten favourite books.

March 26: Thunderball , the eighth novel in Ian Fleming's James Bond series is published. Notably, it introduces Bond's nemesis, Ernst Stavro Blofeld . Ian Fleming sells the film rights to his novels to Harry Saltzman . 1962 Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli co-produce the film version of Dr. No . Sean Connery is cast as Bond, and the film is an instant success. April 16: The Spy Who Loved Me , the ninth novel in Ian Fleming's James Bond series is published. It is the shortest novel in the series, and is told from the first-person perspective of a woman named Vivienne Michel, rather than the third-person used in the other books. 1963 April 1: On Her Majesty's Secret Service , the tenth novel in Ian Fleming's James Bond series is published. It is the first Fleming novel published after the release of the film Dr. No. October 10: The film version of From Russia with Love is released. Notably, it is the first time the character of Ernst Stavro Blofeld appears on screen. November 19: McClory takes Fleming to court over the publication of Thunderball, suing him for plagiarism.

They settle out of court. McClory gains the literary and film rights for the screenplay, while Fleming is given the rights to the novel, although it has to be recognised as being "based on a screen treatment by Kevin McClory, Jack Whittingham and the Author". 1964 March 16: You Only Live Twice , the eleventh novel (and twelfth book) in Ian Fleming's James Bond series of stories is published. It is the final Bond novel to be released in Fleming's lifetime. August 12: Fleming dies of a heart attack in Canterbury, Kent, England. September 17: The third Eon Productions film Goldfinger is released. 1965 April 1: The Man with the Golden Gun , the twelfth novel (and thirteenth book) of Ian Fleming's James Bond series is posthumously published. It is the first and only novel published after Ian Fleming's death. February 16: Filming commences the fourth Eon Productions film Thunderball after producers Broccoli and Saltzman agree with McClory to cinematically adapt the novel.

The joint production stops McClory from making any further versions of the novel for a period of ten years following the release of the Eon-produced version. December 9: The fourth Eon Productions film Thunderball is released. 1966 Octopussy and The Living Daylights , a collection of Fleming's short stories, is published. It is Fleming's last publication. 1967 April 13: The unofficial James Bond satire Casino Royale is released. June 12: The fifth film in the Eon film series, You Only Live Twice , is released. July 29: It is officially announced that Sean Connery is leaving the role of James Bond. 1968 September: George Lazenby is cast as Connery's replacement. March 2: Daniel Craig is born in Chester,United Kingdom March 28: Colonel Sun - the first continuation James Bond novel published after the death of Ian Fleming - is published by Glidrose Productions and written by Kingsley Amis under the pen name of Robert Markham. 1969 November: George Lazenby steps down from the role as James Bond following advice that the Bond series was outdated, and unresolved disputes with Broccoli and Saltzman.

December 18: The sixth film in the James Bond film series, On Her Majesty's Secret Service , is released. 1970s 1971 Dec 14: The seventh film in the Eon Productions film franchise, Diamonds Are Forever , is released. 1973 June 27: The release of Live and Let Die . It is the eighth film in the James Bond film series, and the first to star Roger Moore as Bond. Non-Canon continuation novel James Bond: The Authorized Biography of 007 is published. 1974 December 19: The release of The Man with the Golden Gun . It is the ninth official James Bond movie. 1975 After suffering troubling financial disputes, his wife's diagnosis of terminal cancer, and depression, Harry Saltzman sells his 50% stake in Danjaq, LLC, the parent company of Eon Productions, for £20 million. Kevin McClory first announces that he is remaking Thunderball under the title Warhead. The concept would remain in limbo before eventually being replaced by the Never Say Never Again project.

1976 December 5: The 007 Stage - one of the largest silent stages in the world - is officially opened at Pinewood Studios in a ceremony attended by former British Prime Minister, Harold Wilson. 1977 July 7: The release of The Spy Who Loved Me . It is the tenth official James Bond movie. 1979 June 26: The release of Moonraker . It is the eleventh official James Bond movie. 1980s 1981 After his previous failure to begin production of Warhead, Kevin McClory finds a production company set up by a top Hollywood lawyer and announces a new project. Again, it would be a remake of Thunderball starring Sean Connery. It would become Never Say Never Again. June 24: The release of For Your Eyes Only . It is the twelfth official James Bond movie. 1983 June 6: The release of Octopussy . It is the thirteenth official James Bond movie. October 5: A newly discovered asteroid is named 9007 James Bond in honour of Ian Fleming.

October 7: The unofficial James Bond film and remake of the 1965 film Thunderball - Never Say Never Again - is released by Warner Bros. 1984 June 27: The 007 Stage is burnt to the ground towards the end of filming of Ridley Scott's Legend. 1985 January: After being rebuilt, the 007 Stage is reopened with the new name, "Albert R. Broccoli 007 Stage". May 24: A View to a Kill , is released in the USA. It is the fourteenth entry in the James Bond series of films made by EON Productions , and the last to star Roger Moore . 1986 December 11: Prince Charles and Princess Diana visit the set of The Living Daylights to meet the new James Bond, Timothy Dalton . 1987 July 31: The Living Daylights is released in the USA, featuring Timothy Dalton as 007. 1989 July 14: Licence to Kill is released in the USA. This would be Timothy Dalton's second and final portrayal of James Bond. 1990s 1990 MGM/UA is sold to Pathé Communications.

Danjaq, the Swiss based parent company of Eon, sues MGM/UA and its new chairman to protect the TV distribution rights of the series from being devalued. These legal disputes engendered a several year hiatus in the series. 1993 May: MGM creative affairs VP Elizabeth Robinson announces in Variety that work on the 17th 007 movie has resumed with writer Michael France penning a fresh script. 1994 April 12: Timothy Dalton announces that he would not be returning as James Bond. June 8: Pierce Brosnan is introduced to the world as the new 007. 1995 November 17: GoldenEye , the 17th Bond film and the first to star Pierce Brosnan , is release in the USA. 1997 October 13: Kevin McClory and Sony Pictures Entertainment Company (SPE) announce their intention to remake Thunderball for a second time. The rumored title would be Warhead 2000 . December 19: Tomorrow Never Dies is released in the USA. It is the first Bond film to be release after the death of Albert R. Broccoli in 1996.

1999 March 30: Kevin McClory's Warhead 2000 AD project is officially terminated after Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer obtains the film rights to Casino Royale from Sony Pictures Entertainment for $10 million in the out-of-court settlement of a law suit. November 19: The World Is Not Enough , the 19th film in the official James Bond series, is released in the USA. 2000s 2002 November 20: The twentieth Eon film, Die Another Day , is released. It was the last film starring Pierce Brosnan. 2004 July: Pierce Brosnan announces that he is leaving the role, stating "Bond is another lifetime, behind me". 2005 June 21: The quote "Bond. James Bond," is declared as the 22nd greatest film quote of all time by the American Film Institute . October 14: Eon Productions officially name Daniel Craig as the sixth actor to portray 007, taking over from Pierce Brosnan. 2006 November 14: The twenty first official film, Casino Royale , is released starring Daniel Craig as 007.

This version is a semi-reboot of the 007 franchise but still maintains individual stories. 2008 October 29: The twenty-second official film, Quantum of Solace , is released. The film picks up right where the 2006 film Casino Royale leaves off, with Bond avenging the death of Vesper Lynd. 2010s 2010 Skyfall, then known by the working title Bond 23, was suspended throughout 2010 because of MGM's financial troubles. December 21: Bond 23 resumes pre-production. 2012 October 23: Skyfall is premiered in London, becoming the twenty third Eon James Bond film. 2015 October 26: Spectre has its official premier at the Royal Albert Hall in London. It becomes the twenty fourth James Bond film.

Question: What is the title of the first James Bond novel published in 1953?
Answer: Casino Royal